Senior2Senior

From WXII

Davie County High School seniors spent this past semester writing letters back and forth to other seniors – senior citizens, that is.

As the semester comes to an end, the students got to meet their pen pals for the first time after months of writing letters back and forth.

It started out as just a project for Davie County High School seniors in Mrs. Snider's English 4 class.

“She started explaining to us the notes and how we were gonna go back in time to writing with pencil and paper, and we're like, OK, so no emails? OK, all right, no typing? It's just pencil and paper," said Tania Arellano, a Davie County High School senior.

It quickly grew to much more than that with each letter written and received.

"We always say, 'Well, did you get your letter? What did your person say?' So we kept up with each other's stories of our new friends," said Anne Gould, a senior citizen at Davie County Senior Services.

Each senior was paired randomly with someone from Davie County Senior Services. Brianna Covington and Allison Brown were one pairing.

“We just, we just felt a connection really, really quickly," Brown said.

Covington, a high school senior, said, "Some of the responses that I would get from her, like, made me emotional, like I would cry in class." Covington said they were good tears, though, as the two shared information about their lives and advice.

"I honestly think that I can learn a lot from a different generation. Learning life experiences from someone who's already, you know, been where I was, and who has done more, I just think that's really interesting," Covington said.

Tania Arellano, a high school senior, and Gould, also became very close, sharing a lot about their lives with one another.

"I was like, 'I'm pretty depressed. I don't have many friends,' and she was like, 'Don't worry, like I've been there,'" Arellano said. "And I had to cope with that and that helped because I was like, 'you know, I finally feel understood.'"

Arellano added: "Not only was she educating me, but I was also educating her, like, what's happening in my generation? What are we doing now? How have women come this far in STEM and engineering? And she was also like, in educating me on life and how, you know, this is just a life experience, and you keep learning.”

The pairs say they don't want their communication to stop here.

"I'm very interested in this next chapter of her life after high school graduation, and hope, you know, I'm not going to smother her or overwhelm her. But I'm just looking forward to watching her path unfold. Because she's a very special young woman," Brown said.

This was the first year Davie County High School has done something like this. They and the seniors at Davie County Senior Services say they hope this project continues for years to come.

See something. Say something.

A group of four students at South Davie Middle School took that message to heart.

“They felt passionate about it, they wanted to speak out about it, and wanted their peers to hear what they had to say,” said Principal Cindy Stone. 

Noah Dulin, William Martin, Gabi Sandoval and Sakariah Allison went to their teachers to discuss changes they felt needed to be addressed regarding racism at their school. Stone arranged for the team to share a presentation that the group created on their own, with all grade levels.

“I think people can do better,” said Sakariah. “I want to speak up for others.” 

“I feel strongly about this, and it has been on my mind,” said Noah. Describing how a change is possible, he said it starts with “understanding that racist jokes, names, and stereotypes aren’t funny.”

When the group shared examples of stereotypes, it caused a few giggles from the 7th grade audience. “See, that’s the problem about that. You can’t laugh about that. It’s not funny,” William told the students.

The group encouraged students to speak up if they see or hear about their friends being mistreated. “Talk to a teacher or adult at school that you trust,” said Noah.

“If there is racism stuff happening around you, you have to confront someone about it or tell a teacher about it, if you want to make the change to stop it,” said Gabi. Additionally, “if you wouldn’t say it to your parents, guardians or teachers, you shouldn’t say it at all. There is no sense in racism. Just love each other.”

Well said, Sakariah, Noah, William and Gabi. Your leadership has set a great example for everyone to follow. 

Thank you for your courage and commitment to fostering positive change within our school community.

Buckle Up For Retirement, Brenda

300,000 miles. 

That’s the estimated number of miles that Brenda Lyerly has driven a bus during her 50 years with Davie County Schools.

Yes, you read that correctly. Brenda has sat in the driver’s seat of a big yellow school bus for 50  years, and has only served one school - Cooleemee Elementary. After this school year, she plans to hang up her keys and retire.

“I always said that when I had kids get on there and they say ‘my grandma rode your bus’, I’d quit. It happened, and I didn’t quit,” laughed Lyerly. 

It’s hard to leave the kids which she says are her favorite part of the day. “It’s a different bunch of kids every year. They make it fun. Sometimes they tell you everything. I could write a book!”

Driving a bus is in the family. Her husband currently drives an exceptional children’s bus, and her children and a niece have all been school bus drivers, too. “It’s the perfect job. I have talked several people into coming and driving buses. They were scared to death until they got to driving. It's just like driving a car.”

“I've worked with Brenda for 21 years now, and one thing I always have appreciated about her is her attention to detail,” said Jeremy Miller, Davie County Schools Transportation Director. “She knows her kids, she knows her route, and she knows her bus. If any of those were off she would always notify us to make it right. That is so important in keeping our students safe!” 

Jeremy, along with Emily Moore, Assistant Principal at Cooleemee, describe Brenda as extremely dependable. “She has transported countless students to and from school safely,” said Moore. “Safety on her bus is a top priority, and she strives to maintain a quiet and orderly bus ride each time she gets behind the steering wheel.”

“I’m going to miss the kids, even the ones that give me heart palpitations,” said Lyerly. “I’ll cry.”

Even among the tears, Brenda is looking forward to her free time. “I’m going to get outside, play in my flower beds and get them back to looking good. We’ll go on vacation in our camper. It won’t hit me real hard until the cold weather starts and I’m not busy outside.”

The students on her bus this year keep asking her age. They’ve made guesses, anywhere from 30 to 90. “I told them I’d tell them on my last day as a bus driver.” 

Until then, Brenda, your secret is safe with us.  

Student Talent – A Win for Local Company Avgol

By Meredith Ratledge - Original Story on Davie County Blog

Students in drafting classes at Davie County High School (DCHS) are constantly creating, tinkering, and innovating. Driven by identifying and solving problems, their projects encompass everything from a mold for synthetic fishing worms to cell phone holders for their cars. 

These product solutions have been used in students’ personal lives, other DCHS classrooms, and even in local manufacturing businesses. Some solutions are benefitting companies nationwide.

Student Talent – A Win for Local Company Avgol

Davie High Junior Jaydon Leonard is a shining success story of the school’s internships with local manufacturers. While interning with Avgol, a nonwoven fabrics manufacturer, he redesigned a new product, enabling the business to significantly cut down on ordering lead time and reduce costs. 

At Avgol’s facility, nonwoven fabrics are produced and cut using a slitter, where excess fabric is fed into an exhaust system and blown elsewhere in its production line. Previously, Avgol needed both a pipe clamp and insert as part of this exhaust system to secure two tubes coming into either side of a coupling. 

The need for the pipe clamp and insert were eliminated with Leonard’s creation of a new tube coupling. 

To be versatile, Leonard’s coupling needed to accommodate pipes of various sizes, as the multiple exhaust systems on different product lines have tubes of different diameters. Leonard worked through nine iterations of design, which evolved over time to better fit the tubing.

“It took a lot of tweaking to get the piece to fit perfectly,” said Leonard, explaining that he made improvements to allow for better ease of securing and removing the coupling.

His innovative design is engineered to fit any set of pipes. The coupling is integral to their operations, as it is used in every product line that requires an exhaust system.

Leonard shared that while this project was more challenging than other assignments he’s received, “ I really enjoy 3D modeling and being able to redesign things to make them work better. Take the Avgol tube coupler – I really enjoyed making it fit all of their machines. It tested my limits, and it helped Avgol a lot.”

Making Waves

The new coupling piece has made a significant impact at Avgol. Leonard not only created a better product, but it’s now only one-third of the original cost. It also eliminated an installation step for Avgol technicians, relieving employee frustrations and increasing operational efficiency.

Leonard has worked on ten different projects for Avgol. He shared that “I love being able to fix problems that other people have.” 

“They don’t have to worry about needing two parts, and putting this on the machine is much quicker. It’s universal to the entire facility, so they don’t have to get different parts for different machines,” Leonard explained.

Previously, these inserts and couplings were ordered from Italy, which had a multi-week lead time. The replacement coupling piece is now printed in Davie County at DCHS. Instead of taking weeks for the stock to be delivered to Avgol, they can place an order and have it on hand within hours.

Davie CTE – Creating Practical Solutions

Drafting students at the high school are taught to approach projects by finding and identifying an initial problem. After defining a problem statement, students sketch an initial design and product. This is later translated to a prototype, often crafted from scrap cardboard, wood, or playdough. Modeling software formalizes the prototype, and then a 3D printer makes a student’s idea come to life.

Students often proactively seek out opportunities to develop new projects, but these partnerships happen organically, too, as DCHS educators discuss their workflow and needs with their colleagues.

Through this process, students have created an all-purpose measuring spoon to aid horticulture students in precise nutrient and animal feed measurements, funnels for dust collection in carpentry class, and molecule models for AP Chemistry.

“People come to us with a need, and we try to solve it,” shared Will Marrs, who teaches drafting classes at DCHS. Part of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) department at the high school, Marrs is the Piedmont Triad Teacher of the Year for 2024.

“This is applied learning at its best. Students sit down with the end user, identify their problem, and then think, ‘How can I fix this?’”

Small Projects with a Big Impact 

The CTE department began increasing its footprint as it looked to assist organizations outside of the high school, designing solutions for the Farmington Fire Department and Davie County EMS.

Davie County EMS ensures ambulances are always ready at a moment’s notice. As height adjustments to ambulance gurneys are now motorized, they require a power source – in this case, a rechargeable battery system. 

Personnel realized that constantly engaging a battery in their gurneys meant they were losing charge. Davie High’s drafting students sought to design a mounting piece that would secure an additional battery to the emergency vehicle wall.

Drafting student Baydon Stanley reverse-engineered a mounting piece that stores a spare battery securely. In his design considerations, Stanley had to account for a pre-existing attachment system in the vehicle. His new mounting enables a spare battery to be both charged and easily accessible when needed, even during a hasty transit to a 911 call. 

Stanley created a project for the Farmington Fire Department as well. A dashboard handle used for entrance and exit into one of Farmington’s trucks was deteriorating, making movement unstable and less safe for firefighting personnel. 

After the Farmington Fire Department dropped off the deteriorating handle at the school, a new prototype was printed with DCHS’ 3D printing machine within hours that same afternoon. 

Although a small, short project for Stanley, his design had a big impact. The new spacer secured tightly to the dashboard, improving working conditions and safety for Farmington’s firefighters.

Todd Naylor, fire chief at the Farmington Fire Department, shared his thoughts. “The class did an excellent job on the project. The replacement part looks better than the original, and they produced it quicker than I could have ordered and received one from the factory.”

CTE Student Internships

The student internship program is a key focus of the CTE department at Davie. Over 100 students have been placed in local internships over the past two and a half years, with fifteen businesses alone participating just last summer.

CTE staff establish internship opportunities according to students’ interests, ensuring the internships are a good fit for the business and student. These internships allow students to obtain course credit, get real-world experience, and often earn money.

“CTE is trying to make students career-ready and help them acquire skills they may use later on in life. CTE does such a good job of helping students either explore careers and get their feet wet, or just become aware of their career opportunities,” said Marrs. 

An alumnus of Davie High, Marrs is committed to giving students real-world opportunities he didn’t have while a student at DCHS. 

“The more we can get students to experience industry and what we have here in Davie County, the better,” he said. “When that happens, what they are studying is much more tangible and real to them.” 

The program pays dividends for those businesses investing in students. Participating companies often recognize a return on their investment by hiring student interns after graduation, forgoing the need for and cost of onboarding their new employees, as they are already up to speed. Some companies have recognized hundreds of thousands of dollars in these savings.

Synergies with Local Manufacturing

The internship program creates a mutually beneficial relationship for students and businesses alike, especially in the local manufacturing sector.

Throughout their internships, many DCHS students use innovations learned in the classroom to solve real-world problems. The initial internship placements with Ashley Furniture (Ashley) served as proof of concept. 

While a summer intern at Ashley, student Tanner Rouse designed a racking system for king-sized mattresses. His design is integrated within their assembly line for mattresses ready to have final upholstery added, holding up to 5,000 mattresses at a time. It’s now used by the furniture company internationally.  

Madelyn Whitt also created an impressive design as an intern at Ashley Furniture. She designed a dead-man switch in the form of a joystick, which prevents a machine from being turned on unless the switch is engaged. This feature proved integral to workplace safety and was implemented in Ashley’s heavy machinery fleet across the US.

Marrs was eager to share his thoughts on his students’ impact. 

“They’re solving real-world problems. They work directly with the technicians on the floor, the managers, and improve their lives as well as the company’s bottom line.”

Preparing Students for a Bright Future

“I’m proud beyond words,” Marrs said, beaming as he discussed all his students have accomplished.

Davie County is leading the way in career and technical education at the high school level. Their CTE department works to engage and empower students to become successful employees and leaders in a global economy, with cutting-edge resources and in-house capabilities. 

The department hopes that students in Davie County Schools graduate with both technical experience and employable certifications. Their innovative approach serves as a model for other high schools throughout the state. 

“CTE is getting students career-ready regardless of their plans after high school. When they’re on-site problem solving, getting real-world experience and first-hand industry experience, that’s massive. And we hope we’re setting them up for a successful future because of that.”